Facile Synthesis of Gold(III) Aryl–Carbene Metallacycles

New gold­(III) metallacyclic complexes with unprecedented aryl–carbene bidentate ligands have been prepared by the reaction of the cycloaurated gold­(III) complex [AuCl2(pap-C1,N)] (pap = 2-(2-pyridylamino)­phenyl) with isocyanide CNR (R = 2-naphthyl (1), cyclohexyl (2), or 2,6-dimethylphenyl (3)). Complexes have been spectroscopically and structurally characterized, showing in some complexes aurophilic gold­(III)···gold­(III) and π–π interactions. In contrast with the starting material these complexes are emissive in the solid state, probably because of the better σ-donor properties of the new bidentate ligands.